PHILADELPHIA YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS
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 Opportunities

We are currently accepting applicants for the following open positions:
  • Teaching Artists 
  • Actors
  • Associate Director of Education
  • Resident Teaching Artist 
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Teaching Artists

The majority of Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ Core Programs take place on-site at schools during the school day and after-school with students K-12 in the Greater Philadelphia Area; however, some special programs and classes take place at arts and community facilities throughout Philadelphia throughout the calendar year. 

To execute these programs to the highest quality, we ask our teaching artists to:  be an active theatre professional in the Philadelphia area, be available to teach a long residency format (2-8 months) and to have experience teaching on-site at schools.  Prior experience partnering with classroom teachers is a plus. We welcome theatre artists of all disciplines to our roster, but ask that all teaching artists have a solid understanding of the playwriting process and/or significant experience in new play development.

Currently Young Playwrights maintains a roster of 25 – 30 teaching artists.

Interested in teaching for us? 
Submit a resume, references, sample lesson plan, and cover letter to [email protected].  Materials may be submitted at any time. 
Actors

Philadelphia Young Playwrights has a community of actors who primarily work in our core program, providing feedback and performing cold reads of our students’ original work during classroom visits led by PYP teaching artists. Actor visits are scheduled on an ongoing basis, typically with 1 to 3 weeks notice. Most take place during the school day. All PYP actors are required to fill out clearance paperwork (covered by PYP), and our actor rate is $35/hr. Actors in our community are also given priority casting in productions with PYP and our producing partners. 

As an organization which serves the Greater Philadelphia area, we place high priority on building and maintaining a community of actors which proportionally aligns with the demographics of the students and communities we serve. 

We accept submissions from actors with the following qualifications:

- experience in new play development (have worked on at least one new play with the playwright involved in the rehearsal process)
- experience working with young people (have worked with students on a play, have worked as an instructor / assistant instructor)
- experience with Philadelphia Young Playwrights programs, including participating in the program as a student or as a classroom teacher
- strong ability as a cold reader
- hold a degree in theatre and/or have substantial professional experience
- passion for our mission of using theatre as a tool to tap the potential for youth and inspire learning through playwriting

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Interested in acting for us?

Qualified applicants should submit a headshot and resume to [email protected]. Materials may be submitted at any time.
The Associate Director of Education supports our student playwrights, collaborating professional artists, teaching artists, and classroom teachers. The ADOE is the lead program administrator for our Playwriting Program, organizes and contributes regularly to our curricular resources, helps to conceptualize and administer PYP’s professional development, participates in our annual literary committee process as a reader and Section Head, stewards 2-3 seasonal interns annually, serves as a teaching artist, both in and out of classrooms, and participates in department-wide planning conversations and management.

Responsibilities:
 
Curriculum Development and Program Administration

- Lead program administrator for PYP’s Playwriting Program, which serves 40-45 schools annually and thousands of students throughout Philadelphia, resulting in 500+ new plays submitted to our Annual Playwriting Festival each year. Day-to-day tasks include: tracking and synthesizing program data and teaching artist reports; organizing and administering teaching artist contracts, tracking and synthesizing annual assessment data from teachers, teaching artists, and students; regular communication with our teaching artists and teachers; assisting in the creation of curricular materials and multimedia for classroom use; assisting in the planning and execution of outreach to schools, students, and parents to promote our programs; assisting in the curation and facilitation of annual professional development sessions, as well as tracking teaching artists’ attendance and related stipends; regularly updating teaching artist clearances and contacts, and tracking compliance; coordinating with teachers to book in-school and out-of-school performances; sharing media and qualitative data from classrooms with development and communications staff; and visiting schools to conduct site visits/observe workshops.

- Periodic conceptual partner and administrative lead for Out-of-School Programs and Special Projects. Alongside the Director of Education, collaborating with community partners on goals, curriculum, and outcomes; assisting in student outreach and registration efforts; stewarding playwrights and families throughout the process; providing day-to-day administrative support as needed.

- Serve as a lead teaching artist in at least two classroom annually; lend in-person support for additional classrooms as a guest teaching artist and/or classroom actor in feedback sessions with student playwrights as needed.

- Daily supervision of 2-3 seasonal high school and/or college interns, includes: monitoring schedules and projects, advancing learning goals, and completing intern evaluations.

- Opportunities to serve in artistic roles (actor, director, dramaturg, designer) and/or teaching artist roles on productions and special projects as assigned and as qualified.

Literary management / script evaluation (Summers)
- Read, recommend, and help others respond to approximately 150 plays submitted to our Annual Playwriting Festival. 

- Serve as the Committee Chair for a pre-final committee of the Annual Playwriting Festival, which includes reading all recommended scripts and stewarding the committee through an adjudication process to determine winners.

Fun and creative work environment. The ideal candidate is deeply passionate about serving educators and students in the Philadelphia School District and throughout the Philadelphia metro area; is excited about organizing data and other mindful administrative needs in a fast-paced, busy work environment; and firmly believes in the transformative power of the arts to improve students, teachers, schools, and communities. Strong verbal and digital communications skills, and computer literacy, are required. A passion for theater is required. This job requires attention to detail and a passion for organization and administrative work that helps our teaching artists and students work shine. 

Salary is set at $47,300 plus benefits. Some evening and Saturday hours are required to be a staff presence at productions and out-of-school time programs. 

Additional benefits include: generous PTO policy, health benefits, IRA retirement plan offered, with company match after 90 days, life insurance, SeptaKey Commuter benefit and CuraLinc Employee Assistance Program. Additional voluntary insurance is available through Aflac.  

Applications will be accepted until July 15th, 2026; however, candidates will be interviewed on a rolling basis. The anticipated start date for the position is August 1st.  

To apply, email a single PDF document with a letter of interest, a professional resume, a sample lesson plan you have created, and 2 to 3 professional references to [email protected]. Please put “Your Last Name - Associate Director of Education” as the subject line. 

Position: Resident Teaching Artist
Start Date: Sep 1, 2026
End Date: August 31, 2027 
Compensation: $22,150 
Compensation is based on 860 logged hours over the course of the contract period, with an average of 20/hrs a week. Responsibilities to be completed during this contracted time include: 

  • Teaching Artist in 6 residency classrooms, based off of classrooms which receive 15 to 30 workshops over the course of the year, or equivalent in out of school programs or monologue workshops;
  • Mentor in the Resident Playwrights program and with additional young playwrights;

  • Mentorship of Assistant Teaching Artists, as assigned;

  • Developing and contributing curriculum to The Playwright Commons;

  • Supporting other residency classrooms as a substitute/special guest, as schedule allows;

  • Annual Playwriting Festival duties (reader, committee member, and/or Section Head), as discussed with Director of Education and as schedule allows;

  • Serving in artistic roles on Young Playwrights programs and productions, as interested and as schedule allows;

  • Leading special workshops, including writing retreats, one-off community programs, or other playwriting programming as schedule and interest allows. 

  • Any administrative duties that pertain to the successful completion of any of the above;

  • In-person attendance at 2 weekly staff meetings per month (1st and 3rd Tuesday) and virtual attendance for the remaining staff meetings per month, as teaching schedule allows.


Part-time Benefits Include:

  • 64 hours of Vacation/Personal Paid Time Off (PTO) each fiscal year, in addition to holiday and office closures 
  • 4 sick days per fiscal year
  • Voluntary Insurance
    •  ALFAC life/medical insurance plans 
    • Simple IRA Employee Contribution plan through Invesco is available for all part-time employees earning $5,000 or more each year.  No company match
  • SeptaKey Commuter Benefit
    • A pre-tax deduction from payroll can be set up to be used for transportation costs
  • CuraLinc - Employee Assistance Program
    • All employees are eligible to participate in this benefit that provides financial, wellness and counseling services

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© Philadelphia Young Playwrights - 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215-665-9226
Fax: 215-665-9228 Email: [email protected]
  • Programs
    • Playwriting Playground
    • Resident Playwrights
    • In School Programs
    • Out of School Programs
    • 2026 Annual Playwriting Festival
    • Community-Based Programs
  • About
    • Mission & History
    • People
    • Alumni
    • Supporters
    • Podcast
    • Press
    • Careers
    • Donate
    • Annual Report
  • Classes
    • Civic Theater Project
    • Writing the Worst Play Ever
    • enACTing Change Workshop
  • On Stage
    • SaturPLAY 2027
    • New Voices 2025
    • Play Development Series at Rutgers Camden 2026
    • Play Development Series at Drexel 2026
    • Drama Discovery Day
    • Play Development Series at CCP 2025
    • New Play Development Conference with PlayPenn 2026
  • Resources
    • PYP at Home
    • Quarantine Challenge
    • For Students
    • For Educators
    • For Parents
  • Events